The Next
by cogland
Summary: Set after Animorphs 54 "The Beginning." Told in point of view of Tobias, Jake, Marco, and Cassie. *new* After 4 years, I am going to come back to this story. There are way too many spelling error and I also need to change a few things. Keep checking in!
1. Chapter 1

Tobias

My name is Tobias. Probably by now, most of you know who I am. For the last three years pretty much the entire world knows who I am, even if that wasn't my choice. The funny part of that, the part that just makes me laugh, is that none of those people have probable ever really seen me. I bet none of them could identify me if I was walking down the street. I am not like Jake, who the entire world knows as the tragic hero of our little group of warriors. Or Marco, the "face" of the Animorphs. Even Cassie, the poster girl for tree huggers everywhere, is known by appearance and one of the most respected women, no, people, in the world.

I am not any of those. I made my choice, three and a half years ago. I made my choice to leave the one other person who might love me. My mother, Loren. Though she never knew who I was, and she didn't really love me, I knew that she would someday. Towards the end of the war, I found her, found her after years of never knowing what she looked like. She was blind and had no memory of me. I gave her the morphing power, healed her. Now she lived in a small community in northern California. I visited her every once and a while, but I could never stay, even though she would ask me, I just couldn't. I chose exile. A life of loneliness.

I also made my choice to not be in the lime light. I couldn't do it. I couldn't be constantly reminded of what I had lost; what had been there for me, but what I couldn't accept. I had lost what was what I wanted. My reward. The thing that really kept me fighting, really kept me in the war. Rachel.

Rachel was the only person that ever truly loved me. I know that the others cared about me, and I did for them too, but Rachel loved me unconditionally. She understood who I was, and what I wasn't. She is what kept me grounded in what I thought was the hardest time of my life. I had had a fantasy of what life would be like after the war. Rachel and I would be together. We would be happy, live somewhere quiet and peaceful. I would try to hold onto my powers as long as possible, but a hawk just doesn't live as long as a human. Eventually I would become my human self once again. For the second time in my life, I would be trapped in a morph. I would live without hunting, killing, living my life in fear and being the predator. I would live without one of the greatest joys ever known, flying. But, I would live, and I would live with Rachel. I would be happy.

Now, it was being confirmed to me that that dream would never come true. Not that I had some delusional fantasy that Rachel was still alive. That we would be together once again. I knew that wasn't the case. Now I was realizing that I was minutes, no seconds, away from dying. I was going to die here, in the middle of space.

Let me back track for you guys. I will show how this whole thing started. Well, not everything. I will start with our current situation. Six months ago Andalite Prince and fellow Animorph Aximili-Esgarrouth-Ishtill, or Ax, was captured by an unknown alien ship and the Blade ship, Visser One's own personal ship. It was on the Blade ship that Rachel was killed. Where Jake's own brother, Tom, was killed. The alien ship and the Blade ship then fled to Kelbrid space. A territory of a species that no one, not even the Andalites, know anything about. The only thing anyone knows is that there is a treaty between the Andalites and the Kelbrids that forbids the other from entering each other's space.

The only known survivor of Ax's ship, the_ Intrepid, _was First officer Menderash-Postill-Fastill. Menderash agreed to come along with us on this crazy, suicidal rescue mission, but due to the Andalite/Kelbrid treaty, could not go in his Andalite body. Menderash made the ultimate sacrifice and morphed human for more then two hours. He became what the Andalites call a nothlit, or a person trapped in a morph permanently. What I am. He did this all to help save his Prince Aximili.

Along on the mission was also our one time Animorph leader Jake. Once again, Jake was in charge. He was our captain. He had convinced his best friend and fellow Animorph Marco to come along too. Marco gave up a life of wealth and fame to save Ax. I admired him for it, but I knew all in all he wasn't really happy in that life. Also, Jake had recruited two of his "students. Governments of free, democratic nations had put together a group of two dozen soldiers, men and women, to learn how to morph and fight terrorism. Sergeant Santorelli, a U.S. Army Ranger and French Deuxieme Bureau trainee Jeanne Gerard, were the two to sign on. Santorelli was a tall, twenty four years old, and the traditional army look. Over the course of the trip, he proved to be pretty laid back and decent to talk to. Jeanne on the other hand was very personable, but always seemed to just hold something back. She was beautiful, with blond hair and blue eyes. I didn't really think she looked like Rachel, but she definitely possessed some of the qualities that Rachel had. Also, she was twenty three, much older then Rachel ever would be. Maybe she is what Rachel would look like if she had lived to that age.

To sum up the rest of it, we stole, without the "official" sanction of our respected governments, a super fast, super sleek Yeerk ship that just so happened to be prepped and ready for our long voyage. We named the ship _Rachel_ because she instilled in us a sense of beautiful danger. Looking at the ship, I knew that we had picked the right name.

For six months we traveled across space, but always finding nothing. I started to severely lose hope when one day we were found by our prey. The Blade ship found us, and after we tried to convince them that we were another ship of wayward Yeerks, the being The One revealed itself to us. I knew all about each of us, saw right past our lies. I showed us that it had Ax, and that it wanted to take us.

Jake made the next move.

"Ram the Blade ship," was all he said.

This is where we are. All caught up. This is how I knew I was going to die. I was ready for it. At the command, everything happened like lighting. Menderash quickly diverted all power to the engines and aimed us directly at the diamond shaped bridge of the illusive enemy ship. The face of The One reverted back to Efflit 1318, the Yeerk in charge of the Blade ship. The face of a man in his mid 40's changed drastically from cool and collected, to full of fear. That made me happy. The predator in me screamed for the kill.

I looked around at my comrades. Menderash sat focused and determined. Marco looked sick. He wasn't stupid, and he knew what was going to happen. Even though Marco had lived the last three years in excess, I knew that this is the only way he would ever want to go out. He wanted to die in the fight. This is what truly mattered to him. Jeanne looked afraid. Not as if she was going to freak out, she knew that this was probable going to happen when she signed on for the mission, but even through her poise I could see fear in her eyes. Fear that she knew this was the end. Santorelli just looked grim. No fear on his face. No emotion in fact. He was a trained killer and he accepted his fate long ago.

The one thing that really shocked me was Jake. Jake had changed probably the most besides me sense the war ended. He was depressed. It didn't take a psychologist to see that. He carried the death of Rachel, Tom, the Auxiliary Animorphs, and the thousands of Yeerks whose death he had ordered so long ago on his shoulders. He had never really let loose, always keeping a cool, professional stance about him. He was a leader, a General. He was a 40 year war vet trapped in a 19 year old man. He knew what the stakes were.

But on his face, he had a smile.

Not just any smile, not a grin, but the smile of the pure satisfaction for the kill. The one that you knew was crazy, but what you had anyways. The one that allowed you to release everything inside of yourself.

Rachel's smile.

I looked at Marco once again, and I knew he saw the same thing. This is what Jake was made for. The fight.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tobias

I braced myself for the crash. I felt _Rachel _pick up speed at an insane rate. If it weren't for internal compensators, all of us would have been smeared on the back bulkhead. The _Rachel _covered the distance between us and Blade ship in what seemed like a blink of the eye.

Here I come Rachel…Together forever…

Here...

I…

Come…

But instead of a fatal, cataclysmic crash, the _Rachel _veered slightly to the right, allowing the Blade ship to be missed by literally a couple feet.

"What! What is happening?" Jake cried. The smile was gone from his face, and a look of pure dread had replaced it.

"I...I don't know. The coordinates were perfect. The Blade ship would not have had time to maneuver. I can't explain it," Menderash admitted frantically as he quickly took control of the ship. "Hold on everyone!"

I watched as Menderash desperately slowed down the ship and swiftly turned her around. Even with the compensators, I was thrown to the ground. I felt my limbs fly into the bulkhead, not hard enough to kill me, but sure make me feel it. "Limbs, what, I morphed?" I thought to myself. I looked at my hands, my human hands. I guess in what I thought to be my final moments, I had morphed human. Thinking about it, I guess it is more fitting for me.

Marco, Jeanne, and Jake were also thrown about the bridge. Santorelli was able to grab hold of a bolted down seat and cling to it for dear life. I scrambled to my feet to only be thrown to them again as Menderash maneuvered the ship hard to the left. Streaks of Dracon lasers blew past the view port. Menderash maneuvered us wildly, but expertly, making us avoid all of the blasts.

"We will not be able to make that kind of run again any time soon. I have had to divert power to our front shields. It will take many minutes to power up the engines to get us back into Z-space," the former Andalite said.

"No, we will not run. We will continue to evade them. They will have to run down their cannon power soon enough. Just keep moving towards them," Jake said, but even as he said it, I knew he realized how ridiculous and fictional it sounded. The Blade ship could fire for days. Menderash only nodded and continued to work our way towards the Blade ship.

This space dance lasted another minute or so before two twin beams found their mark. The impact sent the _Rachel _into a mad, out of control, spin. Sparks shot out from wires and computers. The last thing I remember seeing was the floor under me, totally horizontal to my body. O, I am flying again, I thought. Then all went black as I slammed into the railing separating the back of the bridge from the front.

I woke what felt like hours later with a killer headache and blurred vision. After a few seconds, I remembered where I was and what had happened. I sat up to see Menderash still strapped in the pilots seat, but sprawled out over the front counsel. Blood ran from over his eye, down his face. I grabbed the railing and pulled myself to my feet. I stumbled once again, but was able to catch myself before I felt fully to the floor. I looked around again to see Santorelli pushing himself up from his seat. Apparently he was able to get in the seat and strap himself in before we were hit. He caught my eye and then started to look around. I did the same and I saw the others. Marco was in the way back of the bridge looking like every bone in his body was broken. His face was streaked with blood, and his arm bent behind his back at a very non-natural angle. Jeanne was also bloody, but I could see her eyes fluttering. A moment later, she opened them and, with difficulty, pulled herself to her feet. Instantly she fell to the ground, moaning in pain.

I pushed off of the railing and limped over to Jeanne. She was grabbing her left ankle.

"It is broken, but that is all," She said in her heavy French accent. I laid my hand on her shoulder and told her it would be ok. "Go, help the others. I will be fine," was all she said. I nodded to her and started to walk towards Marco. I saw that Jake was up, and had already gotten to his friend. Jake's forehead looked like it had almost been ripped off. The top of his hair was pulled back, and many clumps of hair were missing. His right eye was swollen shut, and I could see blood flowing heavily from his side. Through this all, Jake moved to Marco, yelling frantically for him to wake up.

"Marco, wake up! Wake up right now! You have been through way worse then this man. This is nothing," Jake cried frantically. He grabbed Marco by the shoulder, or what should have been his shoulder, and shook him.

"AAAGGGHHH!" Marco screamed as he was shaken awake. " O MY GOD! AGH!"

"Marco! O man!" Jake exclaimed. He threw himself around his friend, hugging him fiercely. This only made Marco scream worse.

"Everyone, morph. Morph now," I yelled over Marco's screams. "It is the only way to repair the damage." I looked to Jake, who in turn looked to Santorelli and Jeanne, nodding his agreement. I could already see orange and black patches of fur replace the hair ripped from his scalp. I took a deep breath and thought of the hawk. I could feel the changes begin immediately. In only a few moments, I was in my natural body. No pain was there, but the memory of it still hung. With my fierce hawk eyes I say Jake, already finished with his tiger morph, and Marco, just about done with his gorilla morph. I looked to Santorelli.

It was wasn't the first time I saw him morph. Sometimes to pass the time during our trip, we would morph to our battle morphs and have mock fights. We would never really injure each other, but we would wrestle and train. Santorelli started to morph into an African lion. As I watched, a golden mane sprouted from his neck. His eyes became golden yellow and his pupils became black feline slits. In only a few moments, he was a full grown, male African lion.

Jeanne also started to grown golden fur from her body, but unlike Santorelli, she didn't grow a mane. In just as short of a time, the French beauty was a very dangerous lioness. Two very powerful morphs. I had seen the two of the soldiers wrestle. Though the male lion was much bigger and had brute strength on his side, Jeanne was able to use her speed and work with her strength to effectively take down her male counterpart half the times they fought. She was cunning and ruthless. She thought before she attacked, but didn't hold back. She was the perfect combination of Cassie and Rachel.

((Now that everyone is ok, we better get ready for anything that might happen next. I only think we were out for a couple of minutes.)) Jake said. He walked gracefully over to Menderdash, nudging the former Andalite lightly in the side.

"Ugh," the nothlit said as he woke up. He rubbed his human hands against his bloody forehead, and quickly assessed the damage to himself.

((Menderash, will you be ok?)) Jake asked. I could hear true concern in his though speak.

"Yes. Only minor damage was done to my body. Luckily, these harnesses are here for more then just decoration," the Andalite said. I swear, the man was getting a sense of humor.

((Can you get us powered up again?)) Jake asked. I looked around, and for the first time, I noticed that there was no sign of power at all in the ship. All of the lights were out and there wasn't the gentle, constant hum of the engines and power generators.

Menderash turned his attention fully to the computer, and after a few moments spoke up again. "There is only a little power still active. It is currently keeping life support on, but that will run out within the hour."

Then I noticed something. Something was missing.

((Where is the Blade ship?)) Jeanne asked. Apparently she noticed the exact same thing. And as if to answer, the hull shook violently, and then settled.

"They are attaching themselves to us. They are going to board us," Menderash said.

((Everyone, get ready. Remember that there are morph capable Yeerks aboard that ship. Stay in teams of two no matter what. Marco, you and Santorelli. Tobias, you and Jeanne, and Menderdash, stay behind me,)) Jakes said. Always the general, I thought.

"Captain, it will not be necessary for you to protect me," Menderash said. He walked to a store compartment in the back of the bridge, and quickly opened it. He pulled out three hand held shredders, two of which he fastened to his utility harness. He also pulled out a couple other weapons, and a few of what looked like grenades. "I will be able to protect myself and you."

((Good to hear. Now, everyone, get ready.)) Jake said. ((As soon as the seal opens, rush into the Blade ship. Don't look back. Stick together, and keep your position known to us.)) We all moved to the back of the _Rachel_ where the pressure doors were. We would hear the grinding sound as the doors were being welded off. During this time, I concentrated on my morph. It wasn't necessarily a new morph, because I had acquired it over two years ago, but I had never used it more then a couple times, and never for battle. My body grew and grew. Dark brown fur replaced my feathers and my beak shot out to become a snout. My eye sight severely weakened, but my sense of smell got even better. My hearing also weakened little, but still stayed very acute. Within seconds I was a full grown grizzly bear. Not just any grizzly, but the exact one Rachel acquired and favored. I don't know why I went to acquire the grizzly, but I just figured it was so that part of Rachel would always be with me.

((Wow Tobias. She would love it, as crazy as it is,)) Marco said. This caught me as a shock. I don't know why, but that type of comment just didn't seem like a Marco thing to say. A few seconds later, the lasers burnt through the hull, ripping the door away. The two ships were connected, hull to hull. I looked and could see dimly into the corridor of the Blade ship. Obviously the ship's computer handled the cutting. The rest of the crew was no doubt waiting for us, ready to kill. I went in first. There was no fear in my mind. Jake quickly followed me, then the rest of our team entered.

The corridor was dimly lit, except for a light that ran all across the top of the hall. We took a right, and eventually came to a three way split in the corridor.

((This looks fun. Tobias, keep going to the far right. Marco, you go far left. I will take the one going straight. We all search for the bridge. Also remember, this is a search and destroy mission as well as a search and rescue. We find Yeerks, we kill Yeerks.)) Jake said. All business. That is all this was to him. I felt the same way. Vengeance would be served.

((We'll holler if we have any fun,)) Marco grumbled. With that, he and Santorelli ran down the far left. I looked at Jeanne, and she just nodded her lion head in a very human way, indicating she was ready to go. I then looked over to Jake to find him staring at me with his intense tiger eyes.

((Tobias, when we find him, he is yours,)) Jake said to me. I knew what he ment. The Polar bear.

((Yeah, hopefully I find him first. And Jake…don't...Don't die,)) It was all I could think of. I sincerely meant it. The hostility between Jake and I had strained, and I finally was willing to let it go. I could never forgive his decision all those years ago, but I could understand it. We were here to set things right. I swear, if a tiger could cry, I know that Jake would right at that moment. It was one weight off his back. Instead, he just held his gaze with mine for another second, then turned and headed straight down the middle corridor.

I turned right and kept walking. I could smell a new sent. I was unsure of it, but I could smell it. Another animal, here, in my territory. I would find it, and I would kill it.

Jeanne trotted along next to me, her lion eyes seeing everything in the dark in perfect detail. We went for maybe twenty five yards before we entered into a type of mess hall. It had three long tables with benches on each side. The room looked nearly deserted, but the smells gave away that it was in use regularly.

((Tobias, move!)) Jeanne cried. As she said it, I saw the movement out of my right eye. A lioness, like Jeanne, but slightly smaller. The big cat charged, leaping on the farthest table to the right, and glared its yellow eyes at me. I braced myself on my hind legs and stood. I stood to full grizzly height and bellowed a roar of challenge. The lioness roared her own cry, then launched herself at me. I swung my right paw as hard as I could right as she got within range, slamming her in mid air into the near by wall to my left. With all the speed I could muster, I spun and launched myself at the cat. The swing had torn open the animal's side and there was a clear dent in her ribs.

((Oh come on, all this time and this is it,)) I taunted. The rage boiled up inside of me and I wanted nothing more then to kill. To kill, but I still wanted a fight. The Lioness glared at me, knowing her mistake had probable cost her her life.

((Animorph, you have no idea who you are dealing with,)) The Yeerk responded. From behind me, down the hall, I could hear the clanging as hooves charged at us. I knew it was the Cape buffalo. The one that had made it impossible for Rachel to fight the polar bear.

((You get the lioness, I will take the buffalo,)) I ordered to Jeanne. She agreed and leaped gracefully towards the other lioness. The Yeerk, despite her damage, charged at Jeanne and fought back.

I spun in time to brace myself for the full force of the buffalo's attack. The Yeerk stuck me full in the left shoulder, sending me sprawling backward, but the Yeerk didn't count on me standing there, taking the full brunt of the attack. The Yeerk stumbled and fell into the nearby table. Its massive weight destroyed the bench it landed on. I felt my left shoulder go numb as I fell back, but I ignored it. The buffalo was down and I had to use that to my advantage.

I pushed myself up and charged towards the beast. I reached it right as it regained its footing. In a charge, the buffalo was my superior, but up close, it had no real weapons to combat my size, claws, and teeth. I planted both of my clawed paws over the buffalo's horns and pushed down with all of my weight. This exposed the buffalo's neck, which I bit down ferociously on. The thick hide offered resistance at first, but my teeth were able to rip into the beast.

Blood flowed into my mouth, but my angle didn't allow me to get to make a fatal wound. I was forced to twist my body around to the left, to try to reach a better angle, but this gave the buffalo the room it needed to slam me sideways. I hit the edge of the nearest table and rolled over the top. I rolled over quickly to my paws, ready for the next attack, but it never came. I looked to see the buffalo, charging with all of its might, at Jeanne, who held her enemy by the neck. The wound on the other lioness was fatal, and if Jeanne could just have another ten seconds, the Yeerk would be dead. However, I knewJeanne didn't have ten seconds. The buffalo's charge would kill Jeanne, probable also his companion Yeerk, but Jeanne none the less.

((Jeanne, let go now and move!)) I cried as I launched myself off of the table and across the room. Jeanne responded immediately and jumped away from her prey. The Buffalo was able to pivot right at the last second, but couldn't slow itself down. It crashed head first into the wall, momentary stunning itself. Jeanne landed just a foot away from the beast.

The moment was all we needed. We were both on the animal in half a second. Jeanne, using her lion claws, clung madly onto the buffalo's back, sinking her razor sharp fangs into the buffalo's already exposed neck. I moved behind the huge beast, and with all of my strength, slashed with my right paw sideways into the buffalo's right hind leg. This sent the beast to its knee. I repeated the attack, this time fully taking the animal off of its feet. The beast tumbled to the floor, giving Jeanne the angle she needed to bite into the jugular. I didn't wait for her to make the kill. I also sank my fangs into the beast's neck. I felt the Yeerk's terror as it's body started to die. Then, as if the Yeerks host finally won the battle between them, he said his last words, in total control.

((Thank you,)) Then he died. We removed ourselves from the beast already searching for our other enemy. The injured Yeerk had been cunning, and using the distraction her comrade made for her, she demorphed and remorphed back to lion. But instead of helping her doomed comrade out, she ran.

((Lets go get her,)) Jeanne said. There was no excitement in her tone, just a grim determination. Her lion's face was covered in blood, and her sides were both cut with deep claw marks from her fight. She started at a run out of the mess hall. I followed her. We tracked our prey down the hallway, then back to the area where the hall split.

((She went to the far left one,)) Jeanne said. She kept running down the hallway. I could also smell where the lioness went. I followed my team mate down the dark corridor. We ran for only a little distance before the hall opened into a large cargo area. In the middle of the room was a Gorilla, swinging a metal pole like a bat, holding a fierce looking lioness off. Great, another Lioness. I then saw Santorelli, his golden mane shining even in the dark light. He was battling the bear. The polar bear. The beast that killed my beautiful Rachel.

((Santorelli, get off him. He is mine. Help Marco. Jeanne, take our other friend the lioness,)) I ordered. Santorelli jumped over a low swing by the polar bear, then ran to take down the lioness harassing Marco. The second Yeerk lioness leapt on Marcos back, biting at his neck, but his powerful gorilla hands were able to grab it and throw it off him into a bulk head. Jeanne was on the lioness in a flash, tearing and ripping into the beast.

((Now Yeerk, it is time to pay. You scared?)) I asked the polar bear. It just looked at me and bared it's fangs, ((Well, you should be.)) I launched myself fully at the bear just as he charged at me. We collided into each other in a massive heap of muscle, fur, and teeth. I can't remember a time where I was totally focused on one thing, that I couldn't remember anything else, but I know this was one of those moments. I swung my claws with everything I could. As much damage as I put out, I received. The whole time I fought with the combined brains of not just the grizzly and human, but the grizzly, human and hawk. I fought for Rachel. She was the only thing on my mind. Not about death, not about pain, but about vengeance. The polar bear out weighted me, but it didn't have the want to win like I did. It didn't need this kill.

The battle drug on for minutes that seemed like hours. I vaguely felt the Yeerk's claws make contact with the left side of my head, taking with it my left ear and half of my skull, all the skin from the left side of my face, and my left eye. I didn't care. I knew I was severely hurt, but I didn't care. It just made me fight harder. I continued to swing, swing with all of my might. I used my left paw and stabbed my claws straight into the polar bear's right ear. The claw found it's mark, sliding right into the animals ear and stabbing into it's head. The bear let out a sound, almost like a balloon popping. It then collapsed on the ground, defeated. I stared down at my enemy. I let loose the loudest, most terrifying roar ever heard. I swear, it shook the stars.

Slowly, I remembered where I was, what I was doing. The pain hit me, and I stumbled to my side. I looked and saw Marco, Santorelli, and Jeanne all standing there, watching me. Their battle morphs bloody, but still in fighting shape. Behind them lay the remains of two lionesses.

((Tobias…demorph now man!)) Marco yelled. He moved towards me and caught me as my bear body collapsed. Yeah, demorph, what a novel idea, I thought. I focused on my hawk body. I could feel myself getting smaller, but also my strength flowing back into me. In only a few moments I was a hawk. I didn't want to be a hawk. I had to get emotions out. In only a few more moments, I was a human. I young human male. I crouched on my knees and put my hands to my face. I cried. I cried and cried, releasing all of the anger, sadness, and terror that had been in me for the last three and a half years.

I vaguely felt Marco wrap his arms around me, human arms, holding me, crying with me softly.

"She is proud of you you know. After that fight, she is proud," He whispered in my ear. I responded with a high pitched wail, followed by a laugh.

"Jake needs us," I said over my sobs. Marco nodded, and then the both of us morphed. I stayed as a hawk. I didn't need the grizzly anymore. We took off down the hall with freshly morphed Santorelli and Jeanne.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jake

We raced down the middle corridor. Menderash ran swiftly on his two legs, but he in no way could keep up with the tiger. I went at a slow pace, allowing him to run, but not exhaust himself.

((Should we check these adjacent corridors?)) Menderash asked. Though he was in a human body, it was still technically a morph, thus allowing him to use thought speak. I looked around and saw that there were quiet a few rooms and corridors branching off to our sides, but none of them could lead to the bridge.

((No, keep going on this main corridor. I know this leads to the bridge,)) I don't know how I knew, but I did. We continued to hurry on down the corridor, which eventually lead into an upward slope. At the top was a large landing that had a computer counsel on the wall near a large closed bulkhead. Menderash moved to the counsel, and immediately started to work on it.

((There is a pretty secure code to get into the bridge, but I think I should be able to override it,)) with that, the former Andalite went to work. I paced around the landing, looking back down the long corridor. A morph could attack anytime. I didn't know where they were, but they could be anywhere on the ship. And honestly, I didn't even know how many of them there were. On the bridge, there were only four more accounted for after Rachel's death. The Polar bear, Cape buffalo, and the two lionesses. We had gone over every scenario in fighting those. We hoped that these would be the morphs used to fight us as well. Just hope they don't have any more crew here, I thought to myself.

"Got it," Menderash announced out loud. The sudden break of silence unnerved me slightly. I turned to see the bulkhead doors slide swiftly open, revealing the bridge. I walked into the bridge, ready for any attack. Menderash followed closely behind me with his Shredder blaster ready to take any threat out. The bridge was a large room with many counsels, holograms, and computers. There were lights flashing on different part of the walls and sensors were going off. I turned to my right and saw a hologram, showing an image of what looked like a small mess hall. In the corner of the room I could see a large, dead animal. For a second, I stopped breathing, but took a breath once again when I realized that it was the buffalo. Good, one down, three to go, the cold thought went through my mind.

On other screens, there were images of the corridors, bunk rooms, the engine room, and a large cargo hold. There, in the cargo hold, was the image of a massive fight going on. I could see Marco, holding a long, metal pole around. His powerful gorilla arms swinging the pole like a bat and making contact with a lioness's head. The animal went down hard, but caught itself quickly and regained its footing. I could see a large male lion, Santorelli, leap onto the lioness, sinking his claws into her shoulders. The lioness spun, ripping huge gashes in herself to get away. She slashed Santorelli deep across the face, blinding him in his right eye. Marco was on her in a second, clubbing her in the hind quarters, sending her back legs out from under her. I felt horrible for the lioness. Surely the Yeerk knew that it didn't stand a chance in the fight. A part of me even commended her for keeping the fight going.

I could also see Jeanne, in her own lioness morph fighting the second Yeerk Lioness. Jeanne, or at least what I though was her, was pinning her enemy, sinking her fangs into her neck. The enemy Yeerk rolled, kicking her kind legs up and slashing Jeanne in the gut. Though no real damage was done, it did shake Jeanne loose and gave the lioness time to get up. Marco was on her in a flash. After stabbing his pole through the first Yeerk lioness's chest, Marco leapt onto the second one, slamming his powerful fists down onto her head. The Lioness continued to fight, trying to buck Marco off. Jeanne bit down hard on her left front leg and pulled, making the lioness collapse and ripping flesh off of the leg. In a few more seconds, the lioness was dead.

Finally, farther back in the room was Tobias. I have never seen Tobias use the Grizzly morph before, but looking at him, I never would have thought this was his first fight. He moved the bear morph with perfect speed and strength, battling the polar bear. The two were roughly evenly matched physically, with the edge to the polar bear, but Tobias possessed the brain of a human, bear, and hawk. He was a predator by nature, and he didn't give into things such as pain. Finally, after taking a severely mortal wound, Tobias overcame his enemy bear. I watched as he demorphed then morphed human as a human Marco comforted him.

**Beautiful thing, isn't it?** A voice announced. I spun around, looking for the voice. **The fighting, the death**.

I spun to find myself staring at a bright light. The glimmered, then slowly assumed the shape of Efflit 1318, the controller we talked to back aboard the _Rachel. _

((The One, I assume,)) I said darkly. I felt my muscles tighten ready to attack.

"Down kitty, don't make a move that could cause any harm now. Yes, I am The One. The supreme being here. You are in my space now, and I suggest that you learn who is in charge,"The evil creature said in a human voice and looked at me, giving a very wicked smile.

((Well, I always had a problem with authority figures,)) I said. This brought another smile to The One's face. ((Who are you? Where is our friend Prince Aximili? Where are the Kelbrids?)) I don't know why I asked those questions all so quickly, but they all just came to my mind. I guess that over the last half year I had really had too much time to think about things.

"O, aren't we inquisitive?" The One asked with a crooked smile. "As I said before, I am The One. O, not a good enough answer for the famed Jake the Yeerk Killer? Well, it will have to work. Andalite Aximili is here, with me. The Kelbrids? What Kelbrids. They never existed. They are only a, what do you humans call it, an fairy tale that I created. See, I like my space. I don't like inferior beings interfering with my work. This is how it is, u see."

((What exactly is your work? Going around, "absorbing" people's minds?)) Menderash said. I looked to see that he had his shredder aimed at The One.

"No no no, you sad example of an Andalite. I bet it just kills you to know that you ran away. You left your Prince and ran away. How tragic," The One said. He flashed another smile.

"Well, I came back," Menderash spoke out loud.

((Where is Aximili? We came for him. We don't have any problem with you, and we will leave if you just give us him,)) I asked. I was beginning to get anxious with this.

"Andalite Aximili is right here, has been the whole time," and with that, the evil being tapped his forehead. I heard a shuffling from the back of the bridge, and turned to see a Andalite walk forward. He was young looking, but also strong. He held his tail high, and his arms hung at his side with fists clenched.

AX!

Prince Aximili!

((Hello Jake,)) was all he said. He walked over to us and in a very human like motion, nodded his head and gave an Andalite smile with his eyes.

((Ax, we have to leave, now. Thank God. I didn't think we would find you,)) I said. I didn't even stop to think of why Ax had been standing there and not said anything. I didn't think of that he didn't reveal himself earlier. I was just so relieved and happy to see that he was, after all, alive and ok.

((I cannot do that Jake. I am in service to The One. He is my master now,)) Ax said. He turned his Andalite body and walked over to stand next to The One.

((What have you done with him? This isn't Ax. What have you done?)) I yelled. I coiled my back legs, and with all the strength of a tiger, I leapt. I flew at the one, claws extended, fangs bared. I was ready to kill him. Then, suddenly, I felt the tale blade hit me. Right on the side of the head, hard. Luckily, Ax hit me with the flat side of his tail, but it was enough to knock me out of the air, to the ground. Knock a full grown Siberian tiger to the ground. I hit hard, and before I could get up, Ax's tail blade was pressed against my throat. I knew he could slice right through my neck.

((Ax, what are you doing?)) I screamed. This was my friend. My fellow warrior. I saw Menderash take a nervous, scared step forward, but Ax just glared at him with his stalk eyes. Menderash raised his weapon, but I knew he wouldn't fire on his Prince. Not yet.

((I told you Jake. I am serving my new master,)) was all Ax said.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Marco

"O man, this is the craziest thing we have ever done," I thought to myself. I looked around me and saw my fellow warriors on either side. Jeanne, in her fast and beautiful lioness morph, and Santorelli, in his powerful male lion morph. Tobias flew over my head. We raced down the middle corridor, leading straight to what we hoped was the bridge of the Yeerk ship. There were many other corridors branching off, but we stuck to the main, big one. We all could smell Jake, in tiger morph. There wasn't any blood, but if what we thought was right, Tom had only brought five morph capable crew members with him. One Rachel killed early on in her fight all of those years ago, and then the four we killed. Thought I realized that they were Yeerks, I still felt guilty for killing them. Inside it all, there were innocent humans there.

((We have to hurry. Jake hasn't contacted us this entire time. He was the one telling us all to keep contact, but he hasn't done it himself,)) Tobias urged. I glanced up at the hawk flying low above my head. I knew that Tobias must be exhausted. Flying low is hard enough, but flying in a cramped corridor with no moving air, well, it is just hard. I felt horrible for Tobias, but I also new that whatever it was that was haunting him, he had faced and overcome. He had been through a lot, and I couldn't help thinking that if, by a strange, impossible miracle, we survived this and got back to Earth, whether he would take his rightful place in society. He is a hero, as much as any of the Animorphs are.

The corridor's angle changed, moving upward. We raced up the slope and through a large open bulkhead. We were in the bridge. It was a large room, with a large, transparent viewing screen in the front that looked out into space. There were computer counsels all over and large, holographic projectors that had some words and numbers on them that I didn't understand. But it wasn't what was on the bridge that caught my attention, it was who. There, standing at the front of the bridge, was Menderash, Jake, Ax, and the Yeerk we talked to on the _Rachel_, Efflit whatever.

Menderash stood in a very battle ready stance, with his shredder blaster held ready. What really confused me was why Jake, in tiger morph, was on the ground and why Ax was standing over him, with his tail blade at Jake's throat.

((Ax, what are you doing?)) Tobias cried. He flew ahead of me and landed a few feet in front of Ax.

((Tobias, he attacked my master. I must protect my master,)) Ax said.

((What the hell are you talking about Ax? You do not have a master! What are you doing? Jake is your friend. Tobias and I are your friends. This guy killed your entire crew, made you a prisoner, and yet you call him your master! He is evil!)) I screamed. I was confused; I didn't know what was happening. After all, Ax was one of us. Why would he turn on us?

((Yes Marco, you and the others are my friends. And yes, my crew was killed, but you do not understand. You are so wrong Marco. The One is not evil. He brings peace to people, races. He only kills when necessary,)) Ax said.

((Is killing Jake necessary Ax? Is that going to save people, races?)) Tobias shot back. I could see him growing, becoming Human. In a few minutes, he was a twenty year old man again. He looked at Ax with his soft eyes, eyes that were confused and angry and sad. Something about seeing Tobias like this made Ax's angry stare soften for a second. I even noticed the smug smile on Efflit, who I assumed was The One, fade a little.

((No Tobias. Killing Jake is not necessary,)) Ax said. I could hear confusion in his voice. He moved his tail away, almost as a jerk reaction. Jake leapt up to his feet.

"Aximili, what are you doing?" The One asked. With that, Ax tightened back up again and his tail immediately whipped at Jake. Jake was ready and, in a very unhuman like move, rolled away. Tobias jumped backwards, as Menderash let loose a shredder blast which caught Ax right in the chest. Ax stumbled, and then collapsed to the deck.

((AX!)) Tobias, Jake, and I screamed all at the same time. I ran over to Menderash, fear in my eyes.

((He isn't dead. I shot him with a low power blast. He will be out for a while though,)) Menderash said. I was immediately embarrassed. Of course Menderash wouldn't kill his Prince if there was a way around it.

((Now there is no one here to help you. Tell us what we want to know,)) Jake shot at The One. The being only smiled, and in a flash of light, he became, well, a flash of light. His body, or rather Efflit's host's body, become a glowing ball of golden energy, hovering a few feet above the deck.

**Jake, no. You cannot kill him **A deep, booming voice said. I knew that voice. I really did.

((O man, not him again,)) I moaned. Then all of the sudden, time froze. The shimmering light of The One quit shimmering. Everything seemed to freeze, almost like the air froze as well. I looked around, to see that Jake and Tobias were both still moving. So was the rest of our crew. I also saw that they all were human, well, besides Tobias. He was a hawk again.

((Ellimist,)) Tobias said.

"Yes Tobias, it is I. I am here to help you, again," The Ellimist said. He appeared to us, looking like a slightly blue old man with a very long beard.

"You saved us. You stopped the _Rachel_ from colliding with the Blade ship. Why did you do that?" I asked. I wasn't angry, but confused. Whenever the Ellimist came to us in the past, he had kept us alive. I knew not too not have faith in him.

"You are smart Marco. Let me make this quick. The One is another power, like Crayak and I. He is no where near as powerful, though hiis power lies in the mind. He cannot effect reality like my competitor and I can. He lives in real time, your reality. He is ancient, and can never die naturally. He also cannot take any physical form. Because of this, he lives off of the minds of others. He absorbs their conciseness and takes their memories and personalities. He can take the form of any creature whose will he has taken. He combines their minds, creating a meld. They, like Crayak's old troops the Howlers, all share a collective mind. This is different however. Each individual will keep their own identities, but he exercises control over them. This is why Ax attacked you Jake," the Ellimist explained. I was shocked. Never before had the Ellimist said so much. Explained so much. Obviously Jake thought the same thing.

"Before you disappear on us and leave us to deal with this, how do we beat him? How do we get Ax back?" Jake locked eyes with the Ellimist. The old being just gave him a soft smile.

"Jake, I am truly sorry. You have the same eyes. You and Rachel. She died an honorable, important death. I came to her, when she died. I comforted her, helped her understand. She was very brave and left me understanding her fait," I don't know why he said it, but what he said clearly brought emotions to Jake and Tobias. Jake's face instantly tightened and twisted up and tears fell from his eyes. He hadn't been ready for that. Though Tobias didn't cry, he couldn't being a hawk and all, he did shift from one talon to the next, flapping his wings. He also wasn't ready. I never really thought of Rachel's death. I did realize that I was sad. Rachel and I hadn't been the closest of people, but we had been friends, or at least comrades in arms. I guess fighting a war with someone for three years, someone who saved your life countless of times, kind of make you close to them.

((Was she….is she somewhere good?)) Tobias asked weakly. The Ellimist only looked at him and nodded his old head, giving a small smile.

"Please, answer my question," Jake said. He had gotten control of himself, but I could still see him shaking. Then I figured out what Jake already had. The Ellimist was stalling. He wasn't telling us what we needed to know because he knew it was bad.

"Jake, I can never get by you. What I said was true though," He added, giving a look to Tobias, then Jake, then me. Then, he turned back to Jake. "He can be destroyed. The One lives off of other people's essences. If you destroy each mind that makes him up, he will have no one to live off of, hence cease to exist. You already killed four of his minds, which did weaken him, but he has thousands of minds to live on. He has turned races against themselves. He has destroyed billions,"

"Then how do we stop him. How do we find each of the minds?" I asked. I was at a loss. I couldn't think of anything to say. Of anything to do.

"You don't. There is no way to stop him. You would have to kill everyone he has ever absorbed. You leave. I can get you control of the Blade ship, but only if you agree to this now," The Ellimist said.

((What is this. Why are you using us? You don't interfere unless it is part of your game. This can't be the game because you have already told us too much. You never before have told us this much. What are you playing at? Why save us?)) Tobias shot. I could head a calm tone in his voice. No anger, no fear.

"This is part of my game. The One has interfered with the ancient game Crayak and I are playing. He took one of my players. Though the war is over, the Yeerks are still around, and they are still Crayak's players. Though Ax was the only one of mine that still really acted against them, you are all still in the game. The One knew the rules, and he jumped in anyway. I believe he did not understand the rules fully. Didn't know what he was getting himself into. I also feel that Crayak cheated. He used The One to distract me so he could make a bigger move. This is why I interfered," The Ellimist said.

"But why did we come? If we can't beat him, or at least can't save Ax, why are we here?" Jake asked. With this, the Ellimist paused. He looked to the ground, as if avoiding our eyes. A very human move.

"There is another way. Another way to save Ax," I said. I knew there had to have been. I just couldn't think of what it was.

"Marco, you are very smart. Too clever for your own good," The Ellimist said with a soft, sad laugh. "Yes, there is another way. When The One takes someone, he takes them by going off of their fear, or anger, or hate. What someone would find as more "negative" emotions. He finds that darkness in your minds and exploits it. He gains control by it. I could only imagine what would happen if he took someone without that." And with that, the Ellimist, the great puppet master, disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jake

We returned back to normal time, all of us morphed again. I looked over at Ax's unconscious body. How are we supposed to do this? I didn't know. I had to figure something out soon.

The glowing ball that was the The One continued to hover there. "I could imagine what would happen if he took someone without that," the Ellimist had said, meaning taking someone who didn't have negative emotions. Then I knew. The Ellimist had lead us right to this path. Obviously some big rules had been broken to allow the Ellimist interfere like this.

((I know how to beat you,)) I said. I saw all of the others' heads turn towards me with a snap. I couldn't believe it. I knew how to beat him.

**O, you think so Jake the Yeerk killer? I cannot be beaten! **The One Boasted. I swear, his light got brighter.

((Maybe not, but I know how to weaken you. Menderash, can you pilot the Blade Ship? We're going back to Earth,)) I saw the Andalite nothlit look at me like I was crazy, but I could see that he was figuring things out in his mind.

((Jake, what are you doing?)) Marco asked. I could hear shreds of fear in his mind.

((Like I said, were going home. Tobias, take Jeanne and Santorelli and put Ax somewhere where he won't be a problem. Marco, you just…well, just help Menderash do whatever he needs you to. I am going to talk with our friend here,)) With that, I started to demorph. I felt my teeth shrink and become human teeth, my paws became separate fingers while my claws became nails on each one. My orange and black fur seemed to disappear into my body, leaving only my brown hair in places it should be. My tiger eyes and senses all changed back to my human ones, and I felt my spine shrink, growing back into a human spine. In under a minute I was human again. It is crazy to think of how fast we have gotten at morphing over the war.

Menderash walked over to the navigational controls, while Marco demorphed and stood over his shoulder, punching things into the computer or whatever Menderash said.

"This ship still has its navigational logs intact. We should be easily able to program the Blade ship to head back to Earth," Menderash said. Marco glanced at him, and for the first time in a while, I saw the old Marco. While Marco had been his normal, funny self over our journey, he had been different. He had fully expected to die, to never return home and see everything that was his again. To see his parents and friends. I guess I was happy too. I never lived my life really once the war ended. I didn't do the things that I always wanted to. I guess what I wanted most was to be with Cassie. I had always loved her, and I knew that we were meant to be together. Jake, old pal, if you do pull this off and make it home, promise you will live your life!

"Now, know that we are going to beat you. You can't touch us physically. You only have one mind here to control, but we have control over him now. He will be restrained and unconscious for probably the whole course of this time. I also don't think, without all of your minds, you can fight us. You have two options. Stay and grow weak, or leave us alone. Go back to your other minds and give Ax up. For whatever reason, you don't want to do that. Is Crayak promising your something? You're not all that powerful, and you know it. You are weak and you can be destroyed. You want a mind, take mine. You will find that I will not feed your needs. I am stronger than you. You are beneath us. So I will say it again. Stay and die, or leave and live," Even as I listened to myself, I couldn't believe what I was saying. Where did I learn this? This was the me that I hated. Towards the end of the war I had to make some very terrible decisions. Things that I wish I never had to. I had to go to a place that was pretty dark, give up a lot of what was me. Once again, I proved it to myself.

**O Jake, you don't know anything. I can feel your doubt. You are afraid of what you are becoming. What you became. Don't worry. I will have you yet. **With that, the glowing ball disappeared. I know it wasn't gone, but at least I didn't have to look at him now.

Over the next two weeks, we cruised through Z-space. We were traveling fast, maybe not as fast as the _Rachel, _which we regrettable had to leave behind, but fast anyway. We stored the bodies of the Yeerks who tried to fight us in a large freezer type room. These were still people morphed. I wanted to make sure that those controller's families could be found, and that they could finally have their lost relatives back. The Blade ship had had a very small supply of food in it, but before leaving, we had taken everything from the _Rachel _as possible. We had also destroyed a lot of the computer files and logs. We didn't want to give anyone the chance of finding anything out from it. I figured she would just float through space, dead, until she fell into a star or something. Also, as we went, we talked to Ax. He was still rather disgruntle, which showed that he was strongly under The One's pull. I didn't know how far we had to go to save him, but I knew we would. We would just have to make sure that Ax never got close to Kelbrid space again.

After a while, I became uneasy. I didn't see The One letting us off the hook without more fight. Then, to prove my nerves right, he made his move.

"Jake, we have five ships coming in. I don't know what they are, but I do read a high power frequency in them, and they were able to pull us out of Z-space," Menderash announced. I ran up to him and looked on the holographic projection that showed us and small projections of the fighters. They were all different shapes, and their size ranged from larger then the blade ship to the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. I also noticed that we were back in normal space.

"Clearly, The One has some big toys in his arsenal. Are their weapons too powerful for our shields? Can we fight them?" I asked. I knew that the Blade ship was one of the most powerful weapons the Yeerks had.

"They shouldn't be able to destroy us, yet, but if we keep running and taking hits, we will be destroyed eventually," Menderash said. He looked at me and rose an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, I guess we couldn't get bored. Marco, you still think you are pretty hot with your aim?" I looked over at my friend and he smiled at me.

"Jake, you know my aim isn't what you should be worried about," he said with a cocky grin. He pulled himself into one of the weapons stations and powered it up. I just let out a laugh and got into another station. Santorelli, Tobias, and Jeanne all got into their weapons stations as well.

"Okay. Keep them on your screens and let the computer do most of the aiming. They are slower ships, and shouldn't be able to maneuver around all of our weapons. I am still trying to find which ship in there pulled us out of Z-space. That is the one we need to aim on," Menderash said. I was in charge here, but when it came to issues of flying or space battle, I left it up to him. I watched my screen as the computer followed a fighter. The fighter was about the size of a semi truck. It was all chrome and had two wings out the side of it that stuck right out. It looked a lot like a rain drop with wings. I started to take shots at it with my powerful Dracon cannons, but the ship dodged around it. I kept firing at it, until finally it exploded. I smiled, satisfied with myself, when I realized that it wasn't me that made the shot. I looked over and saw Santorelli smirking at me.

"You think your so good, don't you?" He just laughed at me. I laughed back and went back to work. I could feel us getting hit by their fire, but our shields held strong. I watched to see Jeanne take another fighter out, then Santorelli destroyed another.

"Damn, you soldiers and your weapons," Marco mumbled. This brought a tense laugh from everyone.

"There, the large ship towards the back. It is the one that is carrying the highest power frequency. Aim your attacks on that," Menderash said. I focused my cannon and aimed at a really huge ship. It looked like a diamond. Probable the size of an office building. I didn't know how many living creatures were on there, but I didn't want to think about it. All of us shot our cannons at it, ignoring the last small fighter harassing us. Each of our attacks hit, but didn't destroy the ship. The ship just rotated itself around and fired an intense green beam at us. As the beam got closer, sensors on the Blade ship went off.

"Brace yourself!" Menderash screamed as we were hit. I was thrown back and I hit my head on the bulkhead behind me. My vision went black. I don't know how long I was out, but it couldn't of been for too long. I opened my eyes and saw as another beam lanced towards us. I was ready for the second hit. The ship shook violently. I locked my cannon on and let the computer fire back.

"Menderash, can we destroy it?" I asked

"If we were at full power and had a full crew, I would say maybe. This ship was able to hide its full power from me. It's cannons are as strong, if not stronger then ours, and its shields are much more powerful. We have to run." He said.

"Do it!" I yelled. I watched as we turned and streaked across space. In a few moments, we entered Z-space and got out of there.

Over the next three days, we were pulled out of Z-space four times. Each time we were attacked by the same ship, which we named the Diamond ship. We were able to destroy it's fighters each time, but we didn't stick around to fight it. Each time we ran.

"We cannot keep doing this Jake. We are not getting time for our shields to power up. We have to get help." Menderash said.

"How far are we from the closest Andalite fleet?" Santorelli asked. I looked over at the Army Ranger. He looked serious, very serious. His dark eyes looked right at Menderash, not wavering.

"I don't know. We can send a message out, but I doubt we are within range yet," Menderash said. With this, Jeanne and Marco programmed a distress call asking for all available Andalite ships to meet on our coordinates for assistance. From then on, we had a constant message out there. We were attacked again the next day, barely making it out.

"They are jamming our distress call. It is also giving our position away to them. They can find us easier now," Menderdash said. Finally, I had an idea.

"Menderash, which are we closer to, Earth or the Andalite home world?"

"Actually, with the way Z-space is right now, Earth. Why?" Menderash looked at me. Then, I watched as the realization hit him. "Of course. An Andalite fleet will be stationed around Earth." With that, he sent the message out towards Earth. Like we feared, the message was blocked and we were attacked. Once again, we were able to run away, but I knew we couldn't do this much more.

"What if we sent a smaller message. One directed towards a specific target, like a telephone line?" Tobias asked. He walked up behind me. I was surprised to see that he was in his human morph. Thinking about it, I guess he had been doing that a lot lately.

"We might be able to do that. It is a long shot, but they shouldn't be able to see a transmittion so small. But the problem is I don't know any of the frequencies for the Andalite high fleet," Menderash said.

"I do," With that, I ran off the only number I could think of. To the one person I could trust to help us.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

Cassie 

My name is Cassie. I have been living my life here, mostly in California. I spent a lot of time in the Hork-Bajir valley, and also going back and forth between Sacramento and Washington D.C. I had an office at each of those places, and also a home in each one. Just two small apartments. Ones that, of course, I didn't pay for. I also owned my own home in the same town I grew up in. Where we fought our war. I guess my life appeared fairly happy now. I was dating someone, Ronnie Chambers. We worked together a lot, and he was only a couple of years old then me. I guess it had been getting pretty serious. I wouldn't of been surprised if, eventually, we ended up getting married. It all had been going right until Jake, Tobias, and Marco left.

About eight months ago, Jake came to me. He told me about Ax's disappearance and how he was going to go save him. I told him where Tobias was, and he left. I had wanted to go, I should have gone. Jake wouldn't let me. For whatever reason, he wouldn't let. I know he was right. In space, I would have been no use to them. I guess that I just wanted to be with my team again. The media went wild with the disappearance of Jake and Marco. With Jake, it was easier to cover up the fact he was gone, but not Marco. Marco had spent his life after the war marketing himself. He had become a very famous celebrity. He had a television show and also was in a couple movies. People noticed that he was gone. Then, when it came out that a Yeerk prototype ship that had been in orbit was missing, well people started making theories. The government denied having any involvement, and whenever I was asked, and believe me, I was asked a lot, if I knew anything, I just shook my head and said no.

I guess a part of me became depressed then. I was, potentially, the last living Animorph. Out of all of us, I was the only one left. I had figured that if we were going to die, it would have been in the war, like Rachel had. I hadn't though that we would all die so soon after the war. When everything was going right. I was so lonely. I hadn't been able to tell anyone, not even Ronnie. I know he knew that I was aware of something, and he asked me about it. I just couldn't tell him. That and my own depression put a wedge in between us. I even avoided him. I threw myself into my work more by helping the Hork-Bajir and going to school. I still wanted to be a veterinarian, and I didn't feel like I had time for a boyfriend. So I cut him off. I wouldn't even explain to him what was wrong.

I was in Washington D.C. when I got the call. I was there to speak before congress about passing an act to give the Hork-Bajir more land. Their numbers were thriving amazingly. There were roughly 50,000 Hork-Bajir living on Earth. They lived all throughout Yellowstone and most other national parks in the US. They also lived in wildlife areas in Canada. It was beginning to become a very big debate on what to do with the Hork-Bajir. My job was to get the Hork-Bajir the land and attention they needed.

I took a long shower and got ready for bed. I was just about to fall asleep when my phone rang. I walked over and answered it. It was my cell phone. A number that was very exclusive. I had two cell phones actually. One that was for business work, and another that was for friends and family.

Ring, Ring.

I looked at the phone, Unknown Caller. I debated whether to answer it. It could be that somehow, someone had gotten a hold of my number. O well, better find out.

"Hello?" I asked. I tried to sound like I wasn't dead tired.

"Cassie, it's Jake," I swear, I stopped breathing. I knew it was him, I knew it. His voice, though scratchy and staticy, was the same. After what must have been a minute of silence, I felt myself become very dizzy. I took a deep breath.

"Jake? O my God Jake, where are you? Are you back? Did you save Ax? Tobias? Marco?" I felt tears welling up in my eyes. My hand came to my mouth, covered it. I had convinced myself that I would never see Jake again. I didn't know what this meant.

"No, I am not back. I am on the Blade ship with Tobias, Marco, and the rest of my crew. I also have Ax. Cassie, I need you to listen to me. We don't have a lot of time, so I can't repeat myself," Then he explained the whole situation to me. It was crazy, insane, science fiction, but I knew it was all true. I knew it. During my time in the Animorphs, I had come to accept the insane, crazy, and science fiction.

Jake and the others were in trouble. Here was my chance to do something about it. I would not lose four more friends to the Yeerks or whatever evil was out there. They were not meant to die like this. Though I had just heard of it, I hated The One. He was ruining my life. He was the reason I had lost Jake and the others. He had taken them away from me. I hated him as much as I hated the Yeerks responsible for Rachel's and all of the other Animorphs' deaths. I wouldn't sit back and let this happen again.

"I will do it Jake. Right now," I said. Oh, all of the things I wanted to say. I knew that this might be my last time to say it. I decided to say it. "Jake, I love you."

Silence.

"I know Cassie. I love you too. Now, get this done, we need you," I don't know if he said it to get me to do it quicker, like I wouldn't, or if he really meant it. Things between Jake and me hadn't been great after the war. We had been able to become friends again, but there was always tension between us. Then I heard the connection end.

I hung up the phone slowly. I walked over to my desk and pulled out my work cell phone. I hurried through the phone book on it, and dialed the number for the human ambassador to the Andalite home world. His name was Thomas Richards. He had become a pretty good friend of mine lately, since we had to work together often. The original job was offered to Jake, Marco, or me, but with Marco living his movie star life, Jake a manic depressant, and me running around helping the free Hork-Bajir, it went to someone else. Mr. Richards knew nothing about Andalites at first. I think it was more of a favor from the president. After many meetings with Ax, myself, and other members of the Andalite fleet, Mr. Richards grew accustomed to the Andalite culture and became and expert on them.

"Hello, this is the office for Ambassador Richards," a sweat voiced secretary said.

"Yes, this is Cassie Anderson. This is an urgent call and I must speak to the Ambassador at once," I shot, I had no time for pleasantries. I was half way annoyed that I had to go through a secretary.

"Yes Miss Anderson, just a moment,' There was a click, then the line began to ring again.

"Hello Cassie, This is Thomas, what is it?" He sounded concerned. He knew about Ax's disappearance, but just what the Andalite government would say. The mission Jake and the others went on was not officially condoned by the Andalite or any of Earth's governments. This originally was to give it a level of deniability if the Kelbrids claimed there was a treaty breach.

"Thomas, I need a favor, a very important favor. Can we meet?" I asked. As I said it, I walked around my room, grabbing clothing. All of the tiredness that was in me was gone. I was so full of energy I was almost shaking.

"Now? Cassie, can this not wait until the morning?"

"No, it is a matter of life or death. I must meet with you know. In fact, if you can get a hold of War Prince Caysath-Winwall-Esgarrouth, that would be even better," I said as I pulled on a pair of professional pants and a white button up blouse. Prince Caysath was the new liaison between Andalites and Humans. The job originally was Ax's, but due to his disappearance, it was given to Caysath.

"Yes Cassie, of course. Where?" He asked. I could tell by the way his voice sounded airy and hurried that he was also getting dressed as fast as he could.

"Your office, twenty minutes. And make it discrete. We don't want to draw attention, at least not yet," I said. With that I hung up the phone. I pulled on a black blazer and opened my large patio doors over my balcony. I focused my mind on the owl. I felt my body start to morph. I watched as my clothing morphed with my body. This fascinated me. During the entire war, we had been forced to morph nothing but skin tight clothing. Now, sense the war was over, Andalite morph scientists taught us how to morph clothing, accessories, and most importantly, shoes. It just took a whole different level of concentration, but was rather easy once you accomplished it.

I soared high over the city. Still this long after the war, it was amazing to fly. Ten minutes later, I landed on the gate outside the Andalite embassy. It was a rather attractive building, built to accommodate Andalites. There was even a large indoor court yard that had a few nice ponds and beautiful green grass. When the weather was nice, the glass roof over the court yard could be retracted, letting the air in. Unfortunately, it had been rainy lately, so the roof was closed. After a few minutes, a black limousine came around a corner and to the embassy. The gate I had landed on opened and the limo drove in onto the drive way. I just flew down to the lawn and demorphed. Thomas didn't wait for the chaffier to open the door. He rushed out of the limo and waited for me to fully demorph. He was a middle aged man of about fifty, and had light, sandy hair. For his age though, he was in great shape and had a rugged handsomeness about him. Something you don't see a lot with politicians.

"That still takes getting use to," He said as he gave me a welcoming hug.

"Yes, well at least we can morph clothing now," I said with a smile.

"Come, let us get to business," with that, we hurried through the front door and into the embassy. The halls were large, made to allow Andalites to walk comfortable. They were painted a light blue and had very natural lighting. Every Andalite who I knew who had visited the embassy always said how impressed they were with the building. We walked quickly to his office, a large, circular room. It was full of books on each wall, but also holographic transmitters. This added a strange tie between human and Andalite style.

"I was able to reach Prince Caysath. He will be unable to come here directly, but he is expecting a conference call," Thomas said. He hurried over to his desk and punched in a code. I watched as the Holographic emitter on his desk booted up, then finally flashed to life. A life size image of Prince Caysath appeared, standing right next to me. He was the size Ax was, with, for an Andalite, strong arms. His tail was long and had a very deadly, curved blade.

((Ambassador Richardson, Miss Anderson, it is a pleasure to meet with you tonight,)) Prince Caysath said. He gave us an Andalite smile, with his eyes. Caysath was a very personable Andalite. He was very trusting and truly appreciated humans. This is a large reason why Ax had made him his number two on Earth.

"Prince Caysath, thank you for coming. Cassie here has something very urgent to share with the two of us," Thomas said.

"Thomas, I feel that since you are involved with this now, that you should know everything that is going on. What really happened with the disappearance of Prince Aximili and the other Animorphs," I looked at Caysath, who gave a nod of approval. With that, I started to explain the situation. Caysath took it all in without shock. He was among the few Andalites who knew all about the mission. He was the one who came to Jake with Menderash and he had been a large part in the planning of the mission. Thomas on the other had looked at us with wide, shocked eyes. I could see on his face that he had expected something like it, but finally learning the truth of it was still shocking.

"I am sorry to have to of kept this secret, but it was important for security. In order to ensure that the Andalites and humans both had a level of deniability, the mission had to be kept quiet," I finished. Thomas just looked at me and gave me a smile.

"I understand Cassie. I promise that this secret will be kept confidential. Now, what is the issue that we must discuss?" Thomas asked. I took a deep breath and then started to explain.

"Jake contacted me. He has Prince Aximili and the Blade ship. He and the others were found by the Blade ship inside Kelbrid space. They boarded it and were able to….neutralize the entire crew," I couldn't help but feeling a little satisfaction as I said that. "They also encountered a being known as The One. The One takes control of a creature's mind, controlling them. Unlike a Yeerk, the one can control hundreds, if not thousands of beings at once. He has no physical body and only exists as long as he has minds to live off of. Jake and the others knocked Ax out and locked him up because he was a member of The One. They made a run for Earth, hoping that more distance from The One and his crew, the less influence he would have on Ax. They fled through Zero Space, but are being repeatedly pulled out and attacked by some of The One's hosts. They do not believe that they will make it to Earth. They ask for immediate Andalite assistance," I turned to Caysath. The Andalite Prince looked at me, but I could tell there was a deep internal struggle going on. Finally he spoke.

((Cassie, please understand that I want nothing more then to save Prince Aximili and the Animorphs, but I cannot bring an entire Andalite fleet into battle. If those ships are Kelbrid, then we would be violating the treaty,)) He said.

"Well, first, if they are Kelbrid, they have entered our space. Second, and this is big. Second, there are no Kelbrids. They are just made up by The One to keep Andalites from coming into his space and destroying his network of slaves," I said. I could see Caysath's eyes raise and give me an Andalite grin. I smiled back at him.

((If what you say is true, and I am willing to accept this because of no evidence disproving it, then there will be little resistance to bringing a fleet to attack this foe. Do you know where the Blade ship is now?)) Caysath asked.

"No, but Menderash believe that they are within close enough range to Earth to allow the Andalite fleet to detect them. They are broadcasting a signal to help you find them. It is repeatedly being jammed, but now that you know of its existance, you might be able to find it," I said. I knew nothing would stop Caysath from going to save the Blade ship now.

((Of course. Thank you Cassie, I will bring our friends back to us. Thomas, I will contact you as soon as I can,)) Caysath said. I saw his hand reach down to turn off his transmittion.

"Caysath wait!" The Andalite stopped and looked at me, "I want to come."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Cassie

It took me about an hour to return back to my apartment and pack what I needed for the mission. I was shaking, not just from the cool air, but from my nerves. I was leaving my planet. I was going into outer space and engaging against a enemy that could very well destroy us. But most of all I was shaking because I was going to see Jake and the others again. I had given up hope, I really had. My heart had been broken. I had to learn to deal with the fact that the one person I loved more then anyone was dead and never coming back.

I packed my necessary equipment, changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, zipped up a black sweater, put my hair into a pony tail, and sat on my bed to wait. It was a short wait, about five minutes, before my cell phone rang again. It was Thomas.

"They are ready. A convoy is waiting for you downstairs," He said. I thanked him and hung up. I left my phone sitting on my desk. Where I was going, there was no need for it. I grabbed my bags and headed for the elevator on my floor. When it opened, I walked inside. I pushed the button for the lobby and waited. As the elevator traveled downward, I looked at my refection in the mirror. I had grown taller by a few inches. My once short hair was about shoulder length, and I had finally developed a body that others considered attractive. I had always been thin as a child, but now I am tone. I figure it is from all of the traveling and hiking that my job calls for. I was proud of my body now. Growing up, I never cared how I looked much. I had always been envious of Rachel and her perfect body. She had been so beautiful, even at such a young age. She always looked older then what she was. I smiled thinking of all the times she had tried to get me to dress up.

The elevator door opened and I jumped slightly to see the doorman waiting right outside it.

"I will take your bags Mam," he said. He reached out and grabbed my bags from me. I thanked him and followed him outside. There was a stretch limo waiting, with a limo in the front, and one behind. Also, there was about fifteen different police escorts around the hotel. Obviously the proper authorities were contacted in this short time.

The chauffer opened the back door for me, and I climbed in. Thomas was sitting there, with a smile on his face.

"The US government has been notified of the situation, as have the Andalites. They give their support to Caysath and his crew," He said with a smile and a nod, then he paused. "This is really happening, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it really is. I never thought I would be back in space," I said. I didn't say much the whole drive to the Andalite fleet's base. Thomas tried to talk with me, but I just couldn't focus. I was going to Jake. I going to fight to save him and the others. Nothing would stop that.

Finally we pulled into the large military base that had been changed into the official Andalite military post. There were Andalite fighters, transports, and even one dome ship located currently at the base. I watched in awe as we drove around the base to the designated meeting location. Finally, the Limo pulled to a stop. I didn't wait for the door to be opened for me. I leapt out and ran over to Prince Caysath.

"Prince Caysath!" I cried as I threw my arms around the Andalite in a very human fashion. Caysath didn't tense up or become frightened. He returned my hug with his strong Andalite arms. He had become very accustomed to Human expressions and customs.

((Cassie, I am glad you are coming. You above anyone should be with us,)) He said. I pulled away and smiled at him. I then walked back over to Thomas, who was standing by the limo. I hugged him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you. Please do me a favor my friend. Tell Ronnie that I am sorry I couldn't tell him. Tell him that when I return, and make sure to say when, that I will tell him everything. He deserves to hear that," I looked Thomas in the eye. The man looked like he was about to cry, but he nodded. "Thank you."

((Cassie, we must be going,)) Caysath said. I nodded and gave a brave smile to Thomas. He smiled back and waved. He waited there, watching, until the transport we were on left the atmosphere.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Cassie

The trip to the dome ship _Alliance_ only took ten minutes. I watched from the front viewing panel as we approach the brand new done ship. The ship was truly beautiful, made by the most advanced Andalite technology. It also had human touches. There were human trees and flowers located in the dome part. The actual ship part had many human cabins, bathrooms, and believe it or not, restaurants. The Andalites truly loved their human morphs. They loved to eat.

We boarded the ship, and instantly Caysath ordered for it to get moving. He headed directly towards the bridge, asking me to come meet him there after I was settled into my cabin. I agreed and was taken to my cabin by a young aristh. The young cadet brought me to my room, keeping his main eyes off of me. Even to the Andalites, I was a celebrity and hero. It unnerved me slightly, but I smiled at him and thanked him. I entered the cabin and instantly felt terrible. The room was huge and furnished with all human accessories. I had a large bed, my own personal bathroom, and chairs and a large couch. I knew that most of the Andalite crew lived in cramped cabins with the bare minimum. I didn't want these soldiers to be jealous. I knew that they wouldn't, but I couldn't help but feel bad. I noticed that my bags were already unloaded and my clothing was all in the designated drawers or closet. I changed into a military suit, consisting of dark grey pants, boots, a white tank top, and a black zip up sweater. It was comfortable and yet fit well. I knew that I could move in it fine, even run or fight in it.

I left the room and asked a passing warrior to show me to the bridge. He just gave me an Andalite smile and said of course. It took a while to reach the massive room, and by then, the fleet was already traveling through Z-space.

I entered the huge bridge to see roughly twelve other Andalites and seven humans working at the large holographic screens and computers. I saw Caysath in the middle of the room, standing in the captain's post. He had his arms crossed and looked around at the crew. When his stalk eyes saw me, he spun around and walked over to me.

((Hello Cassie, I hope your quarters are adequate for our journey,)) He said.

"Yes, very much so. It is too much Caysath," I said modestly. I really did feel terrible.

((Don't feel bad my friend. You are a hero to both our peoples. You deserve it,)) The Andalite Prince said. He gave me a warm Andalite smile, and then returned back to overseeing everything on the bridge. I waited around the bridge for a bit, watching everything that was going on, but eventually I became anxious. I had a lot of energy built up. I excused myself from the bridge and took a drop shaft up to the dome. I entered the beautiful park. I was full of life, with Andalite and Earth birds flying in it, many different species of fish in the small lake and rivers, rabbits and other small animals roaming around. The Andalites liked having Earth animals on board. It allowed them to feel even more at peace. The dome was twice the size of a normal dome. The park was exactly two miles from each point in the dome. The dome roof shone bright, imitating with a beautiful hologram, an Earth sunset. I took everything in. I took in all of the sounds, smells, the cool artificial breeze that was blowing around the park, adding to the effect of being back on Earth.

I needed to get rid of my energy. I focused on the wolf inside of me. The wolf was truly one of my favorite morphs. It embodies beauty, danger, endurance, speed, intelligence, and freedom all in one. I had been the wolf so many times, been through so many battles as the wolf that I didn't feel out of my body in it.

I felt thick hair grow out on my back and neck. My hands formed into paws, while my face bulged outward. My teeth realigned, forming into sharp, dangerous canine teeth. I fell over onto all fours, with my hind legs reforming into strong wolf legs. My spine extended outward, become a tail which quickly grew thick fur. The last thing to change on me was my sense of smell. I thought I could smell everything in the dome as a human, but I was wrong. As soon as my wolf sense of smell kicked in, I could smell things totally different. I could smell every individual detail in the dome. It amazed me and shocked me. I gave into the wolf mind, allowing the total feeling of freedom to take me.

I started running, at full wolf speed through the dome. I ran over boulders, up and down hills, jumping the river that flowed through the dome. I powered my legs to go harder, faster. I wanted to get tired, but I knew that wasn't going to happen with the wolf. I ran along side a young Andalite warrior as he was feeding. He smiled at me and started to run with me.

((Hello warrior, I am Cassie. I absolutely love this dome. It is magnificent!)) I exclaimed.

((Hello Prince Cassie, I am Rennix-Enzintar-Rentara. I am very pleased to finally meet you, a true honor,)) Rennix said. I knew that he was truly excited to meet me by the way he repeated himself. That was a very unAndalite thing to do. Also, the title of Prince made me laugh. The Andalites had given all of us the title unofficially. It really showed great respect and honor from the Andalites. I continued to run with Rennix for what felt like a very long time.

((How did you get involved with the military Rennix?)) I asked him as we ran over a hill. Rennix continued to run along side me, but turned one of his stalk eyes towards me.

((I joined the academy when I was just a young child. My father was a war Prince during the Hork-Bajir wars. He was severely injured in a battle and was unable to continue to serve. I wanted to honor him by joining the military as well. After you and the Animorphs won the war on Earth, I knew that I wanted to work with humans. There are some Andalites feel that Humans are too unintelligent to ever truly be our equals. I disagree. I feel that we both can learn much from each other,)) He said. I was socked that he was so open and candid with me. During my experience with Ax, and later other Andalites, I knew to expect progress to be slow when it came to developing relationships with Andalites. We continued to run and discuss our lives. We discussed many things, including my own career and how the war effected my life. He was a kind, young soul who truly wanted to help people. He loved his human morph, with which he loved to, like all Andalites, eat. He also loved to fly as a Golden Eagle, soaring above mountains and over valleys. His innocence was refreshing. For the last few years, I had worked closely with people who were more politicians then people.

((Cassie, I hate to ruin this moment, but your two hour morph limit is almost expired. I suggest you demorph and go rest. I hope that you would honor me and run with me again another time,)) Rennix said.

((Rennix, I would love to run with you again. I guess this wolf body isn't that tired, but me as a human needs some sleep. Thank you for just talking and listening to me,)) I said. I jogged over to the drop shaft and demorphed. Rennix watched me, and gave an Andalite smile the entire time. I gave him a hug, which was totally unexpected and new to him. He tightened, but eventually loosened up enough to give me a shy hug back.

"I will see you later Rennix. Thanks again," I said. I waved goodbye and walked into the drop shaft. I got out back on my deck and walked to my room. I instantly fell asleep as soon as I got into my large, comfortable bed.

The next day, I met up with Rennix again in the dome. We ran some more, and talked. This time I talked about my own issues mostly. Rennix proved to be a compassionate listener. When my time limit ran out, I demorphed. We went and sat down on the edge of a rock cliff that was added to give the dome some geographical changes. I hung my legs over the edge and leaned back on my arms as Rennix morphed human next to me, then imitated my position. His human morph was a very attractive male about my age of Latino descent. He had dark eyes, skin, and hair, with strong arms and a models body.

"I figured that since you morphed, mor-fd, to run with me, I would change to sit with you," He said. He smiled a gorgeous smile that made me get light headed. "Now Cassie, continue to tell me what is difficult about your relationship with Prince Jake." I still got a kick out of that we were all given the title of Prince.

"Well, I guess that I love Jake. I mean, I truly care about Ronnie, don't get me wrong, but I love Jake. Jake is who I should be with, I know that. It is just…It is just that ever since Rachel and Tom died, Jake has been different. He became more of his old self after Visser One was convicted, but we were never able to get back together. We tried, but it just wouldn't happen. I almost gave up hope, but I know that if Jake and I weren't meant to be together, that he never would have contacted me for help," I guess the words just kind of kept coming. I felt totally comfortable telling Rennix all of this. He just listened and looked at me with sympathetic eyes. He truly did care about what I was saying.

"Well Cassie, I feel that you have answered all of your own doubts here. If Prince Jake is the one who you love, then do not stop yourself from being with him. You have done your part for the galaxy, as he has. It is time to give yourself what you want the most. I understand that Prince Jake has had a dark cloud so to say over his head since Prince Rachel's and his brother's deaths, but you might be the only thing to truly help him. Sometimes we need to give up on what we believe is right in order to help ourselves." Rennix said. I was touched by his response and noticed how is eyes got lost in the distance, as if he was thinking of something completely different.

"Rennix, have you ever lost someone you loved?" I asked him. With this, his eyes refocussed on me and he gave me a sad smile that answered my question.

"Andalite culture does not accept those who are different from the status quo. It is something that I hope to help change by using the influence of Humans. I did love someone once, but this was something that we could never openly express to anyone else." Rennix said sadly. After a second or so, I realized what he was trying to say. I could understand how hard it was for him and that it was probably something he had ever talked about. I reached my hand out and softly laid it ontop of his, interlocking my fingers with his. Rennix stared at our hands for a second, then a smile slowly spread across his face. As he was about to say something, Caysath's voice boomed through the dome.

((All warriors report to your posts. This is not a drill. All Princes report to the bridge immediately,)) Caysath said. He sounded excited an, but also anxious. I knew what it meant. We had found them. I looked at Rennix, beaming at him. He just smiled back at me as we stood up. I watched as he demorphed then I morphed to an osprey to get back to the drop shaft as fast as I could. I ran down the halls to the bridge, going separate ways from Rennix, waving goodbye. I entered the bridge, finding myself among four other Andalite Princes. They all bowed their heads to me slightly as I entered. I nodded back to each of them in return, showing them the same respect for their rank as they showed me.

((Cassie, good thing you are here. We have found the Blade ship and an unidentified ship at the other side of this system. There have been weapon discharges, and the Blade ship seems to be captured,)) Caysath said. I put a scared hand to my mouth. If the Blade ship was captured, that could mean my friends were dead. Caysath obviously saw the horror on my face, so he added more. (( We feel that they will still be alive. The wouldn't have chased the crew of the Blade ship down across as much space as they did to just kill them.))

((We will go in with this dome ship and the Dome ships _Freedom _and _Andalite Dream_. They will offer cover fire from any fighters trying to hold off the _Alliance. _Also, we will deploy 300 fighters to help hold back any other attacks. Everyone, get ready to go. We will arrive at the other ships in a few minutes.)) I was stunned, but quickly realized that Caysath and the Andalites weren't going to take any chances. They were going in full power or not at all.

((I will be taking my team, consisting of 100 warriors, into the enemy ship. If we fail to return in one hour, or if you receive an order directly from myself or Prince Cassie, open fire on the enemy ship and make sure it is destroyed.)) I looked shocked at Caysath. I knew that I would be with him when he entered the enemy ship, but I didn't realize he was basically putting me as his second in command. He just gave me a strong Andalite look, so I just nodded in agreement. We returned to normal space about three miles from the "diamond" ship and the Blade ship. The massive alien vessel was just sitting there, slowly rotating. I couldn't see the Blade ship, but I knew it was inside the Diamond ship. Caysath, myself, and his team of Andalite warriors, including Rennix, boarded three separate docking ships.

I was crammed in with about 40 other Andalite warriors, all hanging on tightly as the docking ship weaved through enemy fire. I could feel the shock waves from the energy weapons being fired just outside our transport. In what seemed like forever, the transport finally slowed and I could hear it locking onto the Diamond ship. I was grateful that we hadn't been shot down before, but I knew that there would be trouble inside. I started my wolf morph, changing as fast as I could. Finally, the bulkhead was locked onto the enemy ship and opened. Immediately, Andalite warrior stormed out, holding their shredder weapons ready to destroy anything that moved at them. I could already hear the energy weapons being fired at an unseen enemy. I saw an Andalite warrior get shot right in the shoulder, sending him flying back into the ship wall, laying dead. I leapt out of the transport, closely followed by Rennix. Caysath moved up behind us, commanding teams to break up. The part of the ship we entered in was a large docking bay of sorts. I had a long mezzanine over head, which carried hundreds of alien enemies. I have no clue what species these were, but they looked like vampires. The word was the only one I could think of, because the animals were a striking mixture of human and bat. They walked on two medium length legs and hand long, strong arms that hung all the way down to the ground. I could tell they supported themselves on their knuckles, like a gorilla. They also had a sort of short tail that hung out their spine, but it didn't seem to offer much of balance. Their skin was a brown color, with was looked like small scales interlocked all over the body. Their spine was bony and stuck out distinctly. Their heads were what was different. They had bulging faces that resembled some type of reptile with sharp, jagged teeth. Their eyes were large and yellow, and their noses were just slits in their face. They had no lips, and their ears were large and pointed, like a bats.

I had no clue how many of these creatures there were up there, but I knew that there had to of been twice the number of them than the Andalites. Immediately, all of the Andalite forces moved out through the docking bay, getting cover behind large, metal like crates and other objects. I moved swiftly, closely followed by Rennix and seven other Andalites that were under my command. My team moved quickly towards a metal stair case, that was probable about ten feel wide. There were many of these stair cases around the docking bay, leading up to the cat walks ahead. One of the Andalite transports began to fire at the mezzanine, incinerating the alien enemy. The Andalite warriors continued to push forward up the stairs. As my team reached the top, I leapt up, straight over the head of three Alien bat things. Rennix jumped with me, and we landed right behind them. The three aliens turned to look at us, but were quickly slashed apart by the following Andalites. I charged directly at another alien, who swung one of his long, muscular arms at me. I could see that his hands ended in ten fingers that were shaped like extremely dangerous claws. I ducked under the slash, then jumpedtraight for the Aliens throat. I clamped down with my powerful wolf jaws, ripping and pulling with everything. The alien's skin was thick, but wolf jaws were made to tear open thick hides, so in the end, it wasn't able to stand against my teeth. I tasted its blood, which reminded me of eating mud. I released the dying, crippled alien, and then jumped up to attack another one that was slashing at Rennix. I could see a slash mark down his lower body side. There were only three claw marks, but there were long and looked deep. Rennix kept moving gracefully, whipping his tail blade with supreme accuracy. The other members of my team fought all along side each other with perfect team work. I envied them, and it made me sad once again to know that my own team could never work with one another like that.

For the next ten minutes, the only things I knew was to jump, attack, tear, pull away, and jump again. In that time, ever single one of the bat aliens was either torn apart or blasted into individual atoms. I stood in amazement as I realized that these Andalite warriors were able to do that so effectively to an enemy twice its number. However, I did notice that there were many dead Andalites as well. Two if my own guard had lost their lives. I trotted up to Caysath, who was giving orders to all of the warriors around.

((Caysath, I am sorry for your losses. It looks like we lost about fifteen warriors in the fight,)) I said. I didn't really know what to say to the Andalite Prince.

((Cassie, these warriors died defending what is right. They all knew the risks and they were honored to die this way, in battle. There is no higher honor for a warrior then to die in battle. You better demorph and then morph again. Your wolf body is in bad shape,)) the Prince said. I guess I had blocked out the pain during the fight, but I realized then that I was injured. I could feel a deep, sharp pain in my side, and I remembered with a cold shutter when one of those deadly claws had ripped open my side. I demorphed quickly, watching as other Andalites in the docking bay morphed and demorphed to heal their own injuries. I saw as Rennix became his beautiful human body, then as he became Andalite once again. As soon as I was wolf again, Caysath ordered everyone to keep going. We only had an hour to succeed. The Andalite team left the docking bay, heading into the corridors beyond. The warriors help organic sensors that would allow them to find life forms. The ship was teaming with life and every few minutes we would be attacked and have to fight our way through a bunch of the bat aliens. Then, finally, I got caught a sent, a very familiar sent.

((This way! I smell Jake!)) I started running towards the smell, which I knew was Jake. I could smell that he was afraid, nervous, and injured. I could smell blood, but not all of it smelt like Jake's blood. I raced down the chambers as fast as I could without losing the sent. Whenever my sent trail was blocked, the Andalite warriors used their shredders to make way through any wall that stood between us. Finally, after about fifteen minutes of searching and battling, we entered a large chamber, which reminded me of a throne room. The room was illuminated by a massive over head light that reflected off of all of the walls, giving them a green glow. There was a large power generator in the center of the room with electricity running from the base of the generator to a similar structure in the top of the room. There were bodies of the strange bat creatures all over the floor. Blood stains shone bright in the eerie light, looking like puddles of gasoline. The sent of the room was to powerful for my wolf nose. I had to demorph or have fear of passing out from the massive input on my senses. I quickly demorphed to my human body, standing in between Caysath and Rennix. Then, behind the power generator, on a low platform, I saw him.

Jake, laying there. Blood flowed from a large wound above his left eye. Without thinking I ran over to him, panic arising in my chest. What if he was dead? What if I came all this way to find out he was dead? Where were the others? Were they dead? I reached his body and crouched down to inspect his pulse, which was steady. Thank God, I thought to myself. I touched the wound on his face lightly, but the contact must have been too much for him. With the touch, Jake opened his eyes with a startled and painful jerk.

"Cassie," He said. The tears that were in my eyes couldn't help but flow now. I threw my arms around Jake, hugging him tightly.

"Jake, Jake, Jake. I had to come…I had to come…I couldn't leave you, O God," I said through sobs. I pulled away and looked into his eyes. They were dark still, but I noticed they were blood shot. His pupils were dilated and I could see red veins running through them. He must of noticed the alarm on my face, for he said.

"Cassie, it's a trap. I'm the bait," I just looked at him, confusion on my face, when I heard them. Like cats walking on linoleum, I heard the clicking. I turned to find hundreds, maybe thousands, of the bat aliens clawing into the chamber from some unknown place. They were able to cling to the walls, move horizontally or vertically. I looked to Caysath, who was yelling out orders to the rest of the Andalite guard with us. The Andalites began firing at the bat aliens, killing many, but more just kept coming.

"Jake, we have you fight. Can you morph?" I asked, already as the thick wolf fur started to billow out from my own hair. Jake just looked and me and nodded. I turned and finished my morph just as the first bat creature charged at me, swinging his claw like hand at me. I dodged away and jumped at the creature, knocking it down then biting into it's neck, killing it. I left the creature to move closer to the Andalite guards, who were fighting feverishly, whipping their tail blades and chopping up the strange aliens.

I moved as quickly as I could, biting into legs of the aliens, trying to make it as hard for them to move as possible. Then suddenly I stumbled to the ground. I looked up to find one of the aliens standing over me with blood down his claws. I saw that he had slashed a deep gash into my side without me even knowing it. He raised his claw to slash down at me, but let out a deep blood curdling scream as his hand fell to the ground, severed from his arm. Then, as quickly as his scream started, it ended as his head fell to the ground. I turned to see Ax standing there, tail blade shining with alien blood.

((Ax!)) I cried. I pulled myself up onto my paws. The wound was painful and deep, but I could keep going for a bit before losing too much blood.

((Cassie, you should demorph. You hare hurt badly,)) Ax said. He looked at me with his main eyes, allowing his stalk eyes to move around. There was no compassion in his voice. Nothing of what I remembered of my friend. Then, he turned and ran off. I tried to follow him, but there was no way I could follow with all of the bat aliens. I jumped back onto another one, continuing to fight, but I knew that I wouldn't last long, that none of us would. There were simply to many of them. I could see Andalite warriors fighting valiently, but now in vain. One warrior was overwhelmed by a group of aliens pinning him. His stock eyes were severed from his head as well as his tail was bitten off. I tried to move to protect him, but my way was blocked. By the time I was able to doge around my attackers, the Andalite warrior was lying dead, his body torn apart and laying limp on the ground. All around me, death continued to happen. Aliens and Andalites were slaughtered. Blood flowed over the floor so thick that it was difficult to remain upright.

((STOP!)) A strong, determined voice called. At first I thought it was Jake, but then I realized it wasn't. It was a voice that I recognized, but not Jake's. As if someone had paused the room, each of the aliens stopped their attacks and just stood there, waiting for their next order.I turned to where I "heard" the shout to see Jake standing there, human, still with the bloody cut above his eye. Next to him stood Ax, holding an Andalite shredder, aimed at Caysath. A large gorilla next to him with a hawk perched on his shoulder. On Jake's other side stood two lions, a male and female, and another human man who was probably in his late twenties.

((Jake, what are you doing? Why haven't you morphed? Why have they stopped?)) I asked as I moved over to the tight cluster of Andalite warriors, all looking tired, injured, but ready with their tail blades head high above their heads, ready to strike. There were only twelve left, including Rennix and Caysath.

((Cassie, there is no point in fighting and losing more life. Enough has been taken from us already. Just demorph and wait. Wait for The One,)) Tobias said. It had been Tobias who had called off the battle.

((Tobias, what are you doing!)) I cried.

((Cassie, there will be peace,)) Tobias said. I saw Marco nod his hairy gorilla head.

((Cassie, you said Jake told you that The One was able to take control of someone's mind. That he had taken Prince Aximilli. I feel that that might be what we are seeing now,)) Caysath said privately to me, but I had already figured it out. I knew that whatever The One was, he had taken my friends.

((Jake, fight it! Tobias, Marco! You are all stronger then this! Don't give into The One. He will not give you peace. He will take you, make you a slave. Remember everything we fought for. Tobias, remember what Rachel died for!)) I cried. Tobias shifted his wings at the mention of Rachel's name, shifting his weight on Marco's shoulders.

**There is no use Cassie. I have your friends now, and I will have you soon. **A booming voice announced. Next to Jake, a bright light appeared, just a spot at first, but then grew into an image of a human man.

((The One I assume,)) I said. I looked at the human face, which smiled darkly at me.

"Yes Cassie, now, why don't you demorph and have come over here. Join your friends," The evil being said. He continued to smile at me, sending cold shivers down my spine. I began to demorph, to return back to my human body. As I did so, I never moved my eyes from Jake. He just kept staring right back with his sad, old eyes. Once I was fully human, I stood, arms opened.

"What do you want from me? What do you want from any of us?" I demanded. I was tired of this. I just wanted to go home with my loved ones and be done with it.

"O, you five are the ticket to something so much greater for me. I can use you to achieve a power that will make me unstoppable. I just need to take you out of the equation, remove you from the game any way I can," The One said. His smile never fell.

"Crayak. Crayak put you up to this, didn't he?" I demanded. The One nodded his human head, smiling. "You know that Crayak would be breaking the rules with the Ellimist if you do this, right? Crayak is directly bringing in another party that was never agreed upon, one that is getting involved at his demand."

"Yes, well, Crayak is more powerful then the Ellimist. He will defeat that stupid game player in the end! I will gladly take up Crayak's offer and take you for my slaves, adding you to my army!" The One cried.

"No, if Crayak is allowed to interfere, then the Ellimist can," I said more to myself then The One. That is when time froze, literally this time. Everyone stopped moving. Everything did, including The One.

"Ellimist, what is going on? Why is Crayak allowed to do this?" I shouted. Then, to answer me, the Ellimist appeared to me. He took the body that he normally came to us in, of an alien looking old man.

"Cassie, I knew I could count on you. Crayak has indeed broken the rules. Now because of that, I am allowed to counter," He explained to me quickly. I had expect this to not be casual and that we would get down to business right away. It is how I wanted it.

"So you moved us here. You had us come save Ax. But for what, to die here or become slaves? We cannot possible defeat The One's army around us. There are hundreds!" I shouted. My mind wasn't working, I couldn't think of what the Ellimist could possible want us to do.

"No, you coming was all apart of Crayak's move. My move is this. I have given the others the same hint I am going to give you. They have positioned themselves in a situation where they are being held captive by their emotions by The One. Now, if The One takes a slave, it is by taking darker emotions. He controls all of his slaves through a single, super organized mind. Using their more negative emotions, The One is able to control a host. Once a mind is in his collective unit, it is there for good. You can weaken the connection, but you cannot fully separate it."

"Then what is the point? Why have the others give in?" I thought quickly of what the Ellimist had said. The One used darker emotions to control a host…The Howlers also used a collective mind, they were tainted when they experienced…"Love! You hinted to the others to give themselves up so that we can introduce love into the slave mind!" The idea raised through me. What could I do to break it? Would my love for Jake and the others be strong enough to help diffuse the mind?

"Cassie, without knowing it, you have already proven that. At the mention of Rachel's name, Tobias grew uneasy. It was just for a moment, but that memory came back to him. Bring all of those memories back to all of them, and things might be different. Good luck Cassie." And with that, the Ellimist disappeared and time started again.

I looked at Jake. I locked my eyes on him, and took a step towards him.

"Fine, as long as we will live," I said. The One smiled at me, and it was as if I felt a dark fist clench it's self around my heart and mind. I could feel the others, while it was still weak, I could tell that they were there. I could feel a single mindedness, like when we were ants. I could feel my anger very slowly going away, but I knew that that was The One. If I didn't work quickly, if my plan didn't work, then I would be lost like the others.

((Cassie!)) Caysath and Rennix both cried together. I just kept walking towards Jake. I stopped in front of him, with all eyes watching, touched his wound again on his forehead. I held the side of his face in my hand and kissed him. I kissed him as passionate and lovingly as I could. I brought to my mind every loving memory of us together, from being on the Iskoot planet, to the last time we really talked about us in the snake house at the Gardens. I poured all of those emotions, all of those memories, into the collective mind. Everything I remembered, they remembered. At first Jake tightened right up, as if to pull away, but I held him. Then, after what seemed like forever, he calmed down and slowly wrapped his arms around my waist.

"What are you doing? Stop now!" The One cried. His human image showed a mask of fury. I ignored him. I continued to kiss Jake with everything in my heart and soul. Finally, after what felt like forever, we pulled apart.

"Cassie, I am so sorry. I love you," Jake whispered.

"STOP NOW!" The One cried.

"No. You brought us into this mind, now you will get everything we have," With That, I thought of every happy memory with my family, of every time Rachel and Marco had teased each other, every time Jake and Ax playfully argued about Jake being called Prince, of every time we had flown together. I let every memory pore in, and slowly at first, but then just as powerfully, Jake started pouring his own memories in. Memories of him and Rachel playing on a swing set together when they were five, of him and Marco playing video games, of him and I holding hands. I could feel confusion from the others. Marco started to shift uncomfortable, and then slowly, memories of his mother and father started to flood the mind. Memories of us saving his mother, of watching his parents reunite after all of the long years being apart. Of Tobias, as a human, laying under a tree with Rachel wrapped in his arms, exhausted from kissing her. Of finding his mother. Of Ax being made a Prince. Of seeing his parents again.

"STOP! STOP NOW!" The One screamed. We didn't. Each of us now poured our most loving, happiest, proudest moments in. Soon, we could draw on each other's strength to fight The One. We even were able to help Jeanne, Santorelli, and Menderash to start bringing memories in. We opened our happiness and love to them, allowing them to give it back and regain their identities.

"No. No, we are the Animorphs. You will not beat us," Jake said. I could hear the fire in his voice. I could feel it in his mind.

"Kill them! Kill them all!" The One cried. With that, all of the bat aliens started to attack again. The Andalite guards began attacking with their shredders and with their blades, holding the aliens back until Jake and I had completed our morphs. Jeanne, Santorelli, Ax, and Marco all jumped into the battle, attacking with blades, teeth, and fists. Tobias began to morph. In a few seconds, he was a full grown grizzly bear. He attacked the nearest alien and ripped it apart with his massive claws. Menderash was tossed a shredder by a fellow Andalite and began to open fire. Jake and I completed our battle morphs and jumped, once again, into battle together. I could feel each of the other Animorph's battle as if they and I were the same. I knew they could feel me too.

Each time one of us was injured, the others felt it, but were able to encourage the other to keep going, to persist. Though we were powerful, we still took losses. I saw an Andalite warrior get ripped apart by a group of bat aliens, completely overwhelmed. I felt Menderash take a full clawed hand into his stomach, but he still managed to stand, to fight. The One stood behind the fight, watching intently, moving his pieces. I knew that even with our joined mind, we would lose. There were to many.

((Cassie, behind you!)) Jake cried. I turned, but too slow. I felt claws tear into my hind quarters, pulling me to the ground. I tried to stand, but the weight of a group of Bat aliens clawing at me held me down. I knew I would die. I just did. I could hear Jake and the others running and trying to help, but it was no use. They were not close enough to reach me.

((Cassie, I will not let you die!)) Rennix suddenly yelled. With that, he ran to my side and began to slice off the enemy. The Bat aliens left my mangled wolf body for dead and charged at Rennix, slashing at him. He slashed his tail blade, decapitating three aliens with one swing.

((Rennix, no!)) I cried. I knew that there was nothing I could do. I tried to move to help him, but I couldn't. Rennix continued to fight, to kill the enemy, but there were too many.

((Live Cassie. Live and love. Thank you for being my friend,)) He said. I could feel an explosion of love from him pouring into the meld as he moved himself in between me and the aliens, giving me room to demorph. By the time Tobias and Jeanne were able to arrive and help, Rennix was dead.

((Cassie, do it now!)) Marco cried. I began to demorph, to become healthy again. I returned to my human body, and then tried focusing on my wolf body, once again. Exhaustion was taking its toll on me, making my morphing slow. Jake and Tobias blocked me from the aliens in the front as Santorelli and Jeanne guarded me from the back. I drew on strength from my friends, and painfully finished my morph. I ran back into the battle, but I could feel something was different.

The intensity that the bat aliens had fought with was gone. They were slower now, weren't working in groups. They were coming in as individuals, not as focused and not making as dangerous attacks. They were in effect, easier to take down.

((His hold on them is weakening. As long as he has us, he cannot retain control. He is weakening. This was the Ellimist's plow, to use us to defeat The One. We can completely annihilate him! We were a trap, and The One took it!)) I cried. We moved towards the door, all of the Animorphs, Jeanne, Santorelli, Menderash, and the seven remaining Andalites. Together, we pushed our way back through the corridors we came through. As we went, the attacks became weaker, less focused, until finally, the bat aliens didn't even attack. They just watched us, ignored us, or walked around as if lost. The One had been fully defeated.

We reached the Andalite ship and boarded. The others and myself began to demorph, and soon we were all human, hawk, or Andalite again.

"Thank you…Captain…Prince…It was an honor," I heard Menderash say. I turned to watch as Ax and Caysath both held one of his hands as Jeanne tried to bandage his wound. We all knew there was nothing we could do. His stomach had pretty much been ripped out.

((Thank you. My life is in dept to you, Menderash. You are a full Andalite warrior,)) Ax said. He lowered his tail blade and placed it flat on Menderash's human forehead. I couldn't help but start to cry.

((It…has been an honor…all of you,)) Menderash thought to us. Then, his life ended. All of us just stood there, solemn. Jake held his arm tightly around me, comforting me.

We docked back into the _Alliance_ a short time later. The other Andalite Princes had been just about to open their attack on the diamond ship when we arrived.

((Should we attack sir, destroy the ship?)) the Andalite warriors asked Caysath. Caysath just turned to each of us in turn, then finally stopped on me.

"No. They will be of no danger to us anymore. The mind is done with, and they all deserve a chance to live," I said. No one disagreed. No one argued. After calling in 200 more reinformcements who retrieved the bodies of all of the dead warriors, we jumped to Z-space and traveled home.

We arrived on Earth five days later. By then, the entire world had heard of our journey to the diamond ship. In that time, I was able to spend time with Jake and the others. I found it fitting to wake up in his arms, feeling the cold hum of space around us. Somehow it was natural. We landed back in Washington D.C. and stood ready to brief the world on what had happened.

"Well, if this just doesn't take me back," Marco said with a laugh. Each of us smiled and Jake took my hand and held it. "So, going to stick around this time?" Marco said to Tobias. For a second I thought Tobias was going to be hurt, but he just smiled his human smile.

"Of course," He said with a laugh.

"For once I can finally just feel like everything will be okay," I said. I saw Marco nod in agreement. I saw Tobias smile at me, his face glowing. I looked at Jake and was shocked to find tears in his eyes and a wide smile on his face.

"Whatever happens now, we all do it together," He said. With that, we all faced the World.


End file.
